All I have to say is… Wow! My heart can’t take many more games like that. Suffered through too many of them last year and I’m afraid there are going to be many more like this one this year. The last time Auburn lost to a non-BCS team the year was 1991, the team was Southern Miss and the quarterback was Brett Farve. You remember Brett Farve don’t you? The guy who FINALLY retired from the NFL after last year. So yes, it has been a long time since Auburn has lost to someone that was outside the big six conferences. I still have nightmares about that game. The first game I remember seeing Auburn lose was against Georgia in 1986 when we turned the hoses on the Dawgs for storming our field. It was almost five years later before would have to endure the same grief. For my Auburn fans, if any Alabama fans are giving you a good ribbing about the game this week just kindly remind them that Alabama has lost to Central Florida, Northern Illinois, La. Tech… twice, and La. Monroe since the last time Auburn lost to a non-BCS school. It usually puts that conversation to bed.
As for the game, I put a lot of it on the coaches. From the bleachers it appeared that Auburn was going to be real “vanilla” on offense and think it would be able to push the Utah State Aggies around. That just wasn’t the case. Auburn kept trying to run the ball and the Aggies were waiting on it. From where I was sitting it often looked like they were running six or seven man fronts with a safety coming up at the snap almost every time. During the first 56 minutes of the game, Auburn only attempted 12 passes and had almost two hundred yards. During the last 4 minutes they attempted 11 passes and the Aggies were helpless as they had been all game against the pass. They knew what was coming and couldn’t stop it. I’m not sure if Gus was trying to give Mississippi State as little as possible to look at or he just didn’t feel confident in throwing the ball. Barrett Trotter could of passed for five hundred yards yesterday if he had wanted to on that defense. Emory Blake, Travante Stallworth and Trovon Reed are all the real deal and was the only real bright spot on offense all day. Either way, bad game plan on offense.
Special Teams were excellent and I applaud you Coach Boulware. For the first time since you’ve been here all phases of the kicking game are sound and we have legitimate threats to return the ball. Parkey’s ability to put the ball out of the end zone regardless of the wind is going to be huge this season. Tre Mason’s ability to hit the home run he touches the ball is huge. The fact Trovon Reed didn’t reverse field on his only fielded punt shows that they are teaching them to run forwards, not backwards. Once again, hats off to Auburn’s special teams.
As for the defense, we played a lot of people against an experienced offense that returned 10 starters and it showed. Auburn could not get off the field on third down and you could see bad alignments and missed assignments from the stands. Auburn is young, real young and it almost cost them the game today. The good news is these kids already know that anything is possible and to never give up. Coach Roof has a lot to work on this next week or Mississippi State is going to have a field day. Some of the problems I witnessed or easily fixable others are not and will only come with experience. The one person I feel bad for is Jake Holland. You could see him spending his time all the way up to the snap trying to get youngsters in the right position. This caused him to be out of place or time or two and a savy QB for the Aggies made some quick snaps and reads to take advantage of it. They say the biggest improvement for a team comes between week 1 and 2. I hope they are right.
As for the Tiger Tail Team and the van… boy do we have some stories from this weekend. We’ll be getting together Monday Night to talk about them. Be prepared to read about donuts, morph suits and car shows. And if you saw a man that was completely blue with dreads, orange shorts and a tail or another guy that was completely orange wearing a white shirt and blue shorts with a tail… That was us and we had a blast! Until next time War Eagle!
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